By Alex Bass
Alex.bass@triangletribune.com
RALEIGH – Everyone at the North Carolina Fatherhood Conference luncheon felt it was perfectly fine for Tyrone Basden to be almost speechless after being named the 2025 father of the year. Basden’s son, Jameson, had spoken volumes while sharing his essay about his Dad.
“The way he lives his life teaches me that real character comes from how you treat others when no one is watching,” Jameson Basden said. “Because of him, I am learning how to be a kind of man others can trust and depend on.”
Tyrone Basden admits he was not always that way. He acknowledges marital separation, and the opportunities he did not seize in building as strong a relationship with his adult daughter, Justus. “I’m sorry. Please forgive me,” he said in front of a packed room at the Wake Chapel Life Enrichment Center. “If you can’t be honest with your children, then who can you be honest with?”
Basden, honored before the keynote address by Wake County Public Schools System Superintendent Robert Taylor, was almost prophetic, as his story aligned with Taylor’s words. “Kids don’t need us to be perfect,” Taylor said. “They just need us to show up.”
Basden, 52, a tow truck driver raised by his grandparents and surrounded by aunts and uncles while growing up in Apex, showed up alone Saturday, while Jameson showed out on another campus. The rising senior at the Vernon Malone College and Career Academy took the SAT at Enloe Magnet High School before joining his father. A commitment to fostering academic excellence is a leading way in which Basden has shown up for his son over time.
Basden uses his job’s opportunities to meet people as a corridor to Jameson’s upward mobility. One encounter nearly a decade ago led to him facilitating one-on-one Spanish lessons for Jameson, then 8 years old. “I want him to be better than me,” Basden said.
Jameson Basden aspires to study architecture. Dad said his son never challenged his efforts to get him to read books and stories, but the father noticed his speedreading habits. Basden did not allow his own Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder to hinder Jameson’s reading comprehension.
The father-and-son conversational exchanges bind Jameson to the village of aunts and uncles whom Basden said were perpetually positive in their uplifting words and deeds. Jameson practices a routine cultivated by his father of no cellphone usage after 9 p.m.
Whether at home, in the car or with extended family, Jameson is listening and watching both parents model the virtue of forgiveness. “They can still cooperate with each other and not talk badly about one another,” he said. “Just because you don’t like the actions doesn’t mean you don’t like the person.”
Basden was honored alongside a handful of “Fatherhood Trailblazers,” including retired N.C. Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice Michael Morgan; Reggie Lewis of Barber Kingz; and Kentrell Perry of Locs, Naturals and More.
Lewis was introduced by his daughter, Lux, who spoke of Barber Kingz’s impact beyond haircuts. “It’s a place where people come together to share love, laughter and kindness,” she said.
Perry, joined on stage by his children, emphasized the importance of reaffirming one’s heroic vow daily. “I promise you that I will cultivate the skills of consistency, discipline and passion,” he said.
Robert Chadwick of Wake New Start and Ben Piggott of Winston-Salem Parks and Recreation were unable to attend.
